We are a diverse team of black, white, immigrants, young, seasoned, women, men —and we stand with our community in supporting the need to speak up, out and with actionable plans to change the injustice in this world. The story of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others are not new, the videos are not new, the hurt and outrage in the community is not new — the only difference right now is everyone is home during the COVID-19 pandemic, so more than ever people are paying attention.
We hope these protests continue (peacefully if possible) … We hope the donations and investments continue… We hope the media continues to share all the good and not just the bad stories… We hope the wealthy individuals, big brands, co-working spaces and everyone in between continue to make these statements — as lives are threatened with the calling of the police or lives taken not only through the hands of the police but through the hands of the bias or racist self-entitled individuals that DO NOT VALUE BLACK LIVES. We must be proactive and not just reactive in these situations.
As a Black Woman Tech Founder & CEO growing a company in the very non-diverse industry of supply chain and spending too much time positioning the company for funders to take us seriously and not ghost us — even as we showcase our strong team, disruptive technology and massive market opportunity. I’ve witnessed over the last week an increase from VC’s with “Dear Black Founder… I will offer you mentorship or office hours etc. We don’t need your charity advice; we need the same respect and financial support you give to white males. Let us showcase what we can do with ‘real money’ as we have accomplished so much with hardly any money. Lastly, I would be remiss not to mention, Stimulus does have great investors that I am thankful for, who believe in us and have been there with great advice in addition to offering their networks.
As a Host/Producer on RNB Philly 1003.FM (Radio One) for over 7 years, who speaks out on a weekly basis about the injustice in our community — including poverty, deaths, mass incarceration, lack of business investments, over-policing, and more. For a long time, I’ve been so heartbroken and have shed many tears about the lack of consistent acknowledgment on how we are treated.
2020 has kicked off a very interesting decade of calling out injustices — I just pray it’s not short-lived.
Actionable Item: We hope that everyone voted either in-person or through mail-in ballot on Tuesday, June 2nd…and will vote again on Tuesday November 3rd. We need to vote for people (locally and nationally) that have a track record of supporting policies that promote fairness and racial equality; and will challenge police departments.
The team at Stimulus will continue to support our community with our motto “Build Better Relationships” to include speaking out, growing our diverse team, ensuring our customers align with our beliefs, and spend/invest our money to ensure economic opportunities for all.
Stay Safe!
Tiffanie Stanard, Founder & CEO / the Stimulus Team
